What's Happening in Myrtle Beach, SC…

The Myrtle Beach Fire Department Ocean Rescue Team held a training session that stopped a number of people in their tracks.

Approximately 50 people were in the vicinity of Damon's Grill in Myrtle Beach recently, and began wondering if something was wrong. It turns out the Ocean Rescue Team was doing a training exercise.

Brian Mitchell, the battalion chief, said the team trains approximately once a month during the summer, testing different skills each time. The exercise that drew people's attention most recently was one in which the rescuers practice using jet-skis in rescues. They learn to use the machines to save swimmers who are in trouble, and launch them from the shore to pursue water rescues.

Mitchell revealed that approximately 25 members of the Ocean Rescue Team took part, along with approximately 15 of the Grand Strand Regional Medical Center's medical residents, who volunteered to play victims.

Mitchell said keeping up their skills was good for the team, as were the group discussions they have held to talk about the different events and different calls to which they have responded, as well as what they have seen on the beach.

Mitchell also noted that having the medical residents on the scene gave the fire department team the opportunity to put faces with the voices they hear via radio during emergency responses.

Organizers of events like this can use banner printing to mark off the training area.